Point Break and the curse of the millennial remake

Hey guys and dolls, I know it's been sometime since I wrote anything but trust me there's been so much going on in my personal life that it has been almost impossible to do anything but adult. However, I could not pass up posting something on the new Point Break film and how it is an exact representation with what the hell is going on in America today...


Point Break:
Now this film was screwed from the get go with me. I love the original and could watch it once a day for the rest of my life. Why? Because it's not too in depth to be a great dramatic film, like Silence of the Lambs, but it is exactly what a guy needs to be entertained. Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze are gold as the two male leads, the spiritual surfer and the FBI agent, who go head to head in 90 minutes of awesome. To say that the new film falls short is kind of an understatement.
But
Before I start with the bad, I'll go with what I did like about the film.

The Good:
The film is visually stunning. The film's scenes range from deep blue oceans to snow topped peaks and everything in between. The stunts are also action packed, from flying suits to free climbing huge cliffs, but that's just about where the good ends.

The Bad:
First lets look at the players. Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah. In the original film Johnny Utah is a former football player who is injured and instead of NFL glory joins the FBI instead. He is young and cocky but is open to strange ideas of bank robbing that are presented to him by Pappas (played by Gary Busey in the original). Pappas is the old mentor that guides Johnny through the trials of getting too in deep with his cover and too involved with his prey. He's the grilled old timer that is hard nosed and bad ass with a little sense of humor on the side. There's Tyler, played by Lori Petty, is the hot surfer girl who teaches Johnny about surfing and introduces him to Bodhi. Bodhi, Patrick Swayze, is the spiritual surfer/gang leader who teaches Johnny how to know himself, the waves, and then kid naps his girl and almost kills him several times. All in all the plot is just as deep as it needs too and thus the cult hit/guy's movie that is really worth your time.

Now fast forward to 2016

Johnny Utah has gone from former athlete to EXTREME athlete. There is no more Tyler, rather some hot chick named Samsara that serves almost NO purpose in the film. Pappas also has no purpose in the film and no back story, and Bodhi has gone from spiritual surfer to nut job eco terrorist. The plot is Utah is an FBI agent who understands that a series of robberies are connected to some extreme ritual that will gain them enlightenment. Along the way they give billions of stolen loot to poor people so they are good guys/bad guys in the process. The film's action (apart from the stunts) is subpar at best. The strongest scene is a bank robbery which was fubar from the get go and the final mountain climbing scene which is pretty much pointless. Because Utah knows how to surf there is no purpose for Tyler and because they changed Pappas from FBI to interpol there is a total of maybe ten lines for what was a main character in the film. Bodhi and Utah have some kind of weird bro-mance that completely avoids putting blame on either the FBI agent who is allowed to break the law and run around the globe, and the nut job surfer turned eco-terrorist.

AND that's my point to this whole thing, the entire film had purpose, could have been a good flick, but had no heart an soul whatsoever. The characters are all shallow, sub par, and by the end of the film it's revealed that they knew Johnny Utah was a cop the whole time. WHAT THE HELL? To add insult to injury the whole film is pretty much a millennial's wet dream. How so? It's all about right now, there's no background, there's no depth, and it's got a bunch of girls in bikinis. To add gas to the flame there is this whole PC line of political correctness as Bodhi and his crew "give back to the earth" by killing some innocent drivers and guards and by giving a bunch of poor people stolen money and diamonds. BUT THAT'S IT! There's almost no explanation of why they are eco terrorists and why they chose those targets or why anything.

An example of this is one scene where Utah sneaks his way into some secret fight club thing. He fights Bodhi for some odd reason that is never explained and then is told he's not good enough as Bodhi leaves. Alright Fight Club the film was about men trying to be men again, soap, and trying to bring down the system. This scene has no point, no explanation, and seems to just be a reason for Johnny Utah to take off his shirt and show off his "tats". That's pretty much the film in the film in a nut shell. Johnny spends four or five days with these guys, bonds with them mystically, and then stabs them in the back, In the end Johnny and Bodhi have some bro moment on a boat and then the film ends just as the original. Sad, but the lowest point of the film is where they redo the famous shoot the gun in the air scene where Utah just can't bring himself to shoot Bodhi. The only problem is in this scene again there is no heart, no soul, no depth. Johnny fell down, got a boo boo and Johnny just stares at Bodhi for a second and then shoots in the air.

Another pointless element is the love interest Samsara. She has a total of three scenes with the main character and then there is a plot twist (I really want to reveal but I won't) and then she is gone. She says two or three hippy lines, confesses a portion of the plot (badly) and then sleeps with our hero, again utterly hopeless.

All in all this film ranks right up there with the Red Dawn remake. It's an MTV adaption of a good film that will completely ruin the franchise for generations to come. Thanks Hollywood, thanks a alot. If you wanted to make a better film, you should have spent less money of CGI and stunts and spent a little more time on plot and story.